WE CALL EM' HOW WE SEE 'EM

This entire Ray and Janay Rice thing is such a headache. The woman swung on her the fiancé and he swung back and knocked her out. Now let’s not get this misconstrued as me advocating domestic abuse because I do not. But this was not abuse. People are treating Ray Rice as if he consistently abuses his wife for no apparent reason. The rule of thumb is you don’t hit somebody without expecting to be it back. Hell there’s a law of physics that says something like every reaction has an equal or greater reaction. Well there you go.

If she didn’t want to be hit she shouldn’t have hit him. Now of course the video looks bad because he is much stronger than she is but she also knew this before she attacked him so there’s that. In no way is it okay for her to put hands on him and not expect the same thing. That’s crazy.

The other problem I have is that people are attacking Janay Rice for standing by her husband through this troublesome time. This entire world confuses me because we have these Christian principles that people preach but they don’t stand by. They said “till death to we part” not “until shit gets tough”. She is doing exactly what she is supposed to do. Instead of placing the blame solely on Ray Rice she accepts her part in the affair and she chooses to support her husband and move forward. And the media is not making it any easier.

This is exactly what real life looks like. Ray Rice made a mistake. We have all made plenty. Who are we to crucify a person for their faults. Should we not allow them a chance at redemption? As far as we know Ray Rice could be the model husband besides this singular incident. Why are people so quick to attack and so slow to forgive. What happened to transparency and forgiveness. What happened to logic?

When I was a kid, I would always lie to get out of trouble. The majority of the time the lie would get me into more trouble than I was facing at first. My dad would always tell me ” If you would’ve told me the truth to start with you wouldn’t be as much trouble as you are in now”. I would always roll my eyes and think “yeah right”. Somewhere in LA Josh Shaw was rolling his eyes too.

We recently heard a story about how USC CB Josh Shaw heroically saved his little cousin from drowning by jumping from a two story balcony, crawling to the pool, and magically slivered in and pulled his cousin to safety.

Wait a minute…

First I thought, a 7 year old in California can’t swim? How can you swim with two broken ankles? Is that even possible? The kid was alone at an apartment pool in the summertime? How’d he get out of the pool? There were plenty of questions. I put them all to rest because if the media reported it then it must be true right? I mean the media said Manti Teo had a girlfriend so of course they’re super credible.

But here we are on August 27th and the truth comes out. Josh Shaw lied. Josh Shaw was fleeing a burglary. Josh Shaw is an idiot. Now this is what I have a problem with. He didn’t have to lie. As college football fans we are well aware of how legal misconduct is handled when it pertains to high profile athletes. Theres a huge uproar, the athlete in question apologizes, the police commissioner gets box seats for the next home game, athlete gets slap on the wrist, we forgot about it. Apparently, Josh Shaw hasn’t been in touch with national media for the past decade. You big dummy.

If he had told the truth he would have only received a slap on the wrist. Might have been suspended for a few games and then boom he’s back with a vengeance and redeeming himself on and off the field. Instead Josh Shaw is suspended indefinitely from all football activities. Now his integrity is about as broken as Paul George’s leg and maybe his D-1 football career. We always say “innocent until proven guilty” but we also say “once a liar always a liar”. Capitan no mas for Josh.

There’s a valuable lesson to be learned in this. Only break into apartments on the first floor.

Chad Johnson is if nothing else a great entertainer. On his twitter account Chad revisited his reaction to when Ray Lewis knocked his block off during a game a few years ago.

It got me to thinking. Most of Ray Lewis’ tough guy image is a product of the murder trial about a decade ago. The trial concluded that Ray Lewis didn’t kill anyone but got someone to do it for him(from what I remember). Then I thought more about it and every time Ray talked his way out of situations. Maybe Ray was a big softie.

None of this really matters, but in that fight I think I would put my money on 85.

Details seem to be a bit sketchy but so far 12 Tennessee Volunteer players have been either cited or arrested from charges ranging from underage drinking to possession of drug paraphernalia. Notable Vols involved are All-American LB AJ Johnson, Dontavious Sapp, Curtis Maggit, and Jaylen-Reeves Maybin.

Police Report states that AJ Johnson attempted to intervene when officers were placing Dontavius Sapp.

Incidents like this are the last thing that we need while we are trying to get back to the top of the SEC. Butch Jones has shown he’s a high character kind of a guy so i’m sure he will handle this appropriately. The last thing we need is hefty suspensions of our key defensive players.

As a Tennesse Vols fan the past few years have been as hard to watch as episode of Real Housewives but my boys are on the right track. We have been on a downward spiral starting with Fulmer’s decision to start Erik Ainge over Brent Schaeffer but it is looking like Tennessee football is back. With a Top 5 recruiting class and an upset win against South Carolina last season, Butch Jones is definitely on the right track. In spite of this incident we’ve been doing the right things and this won’t shelve my excitement for next season.

Earlier this evening Missouri Tigers DE Michael Sam announced that he is homosexual. This is the first high profile NCAA player to “come out”. I applaud Sam’s courage in announcing who he really is to the world and I pray that his team mates continue to support him through the tough times ahead.

The downside to this is that Michael Sam is also declaring for the NFL Draft and unfortunately this may affect his draft stock. NFL locker rooms are borderline homophobic which is somewhat appalling given the homoerotic behavior exhibited in most locker rooms. NFL executives may be wary of bringing in a player in fear of the retaliation or other issues that may be awaiting the soon to be NFL rookie. Especially given the fallout after the Jonathan Martin ordeal. This coupled with Sam’s less than stellar performance in Mizzou’s bowl game is definitely going to affect his draft stock.

But any who, congratulations to Sam for having courage enough to be who he really is in spite of all that may befall him. Michael Sam is a Tiger and regardless of the orientation of his stripes, he’s still a Tiger. Hopefully, sooner than later, everyone will see it that way.

This game was ridiculous from start to finish. Jordan Matthews played grown man football in this one. Without a doubt one of the most heartfelt performances that you will see from a college athlete. Matthews finished the game with 10 receptions 178 and a pass that bounced off his hands and cost his team the game. He literally left it all on the field after this hit.

GIF courtesy of SB Nation

Tonight what you saw is the importance of a team effort. These Rebels rolled together.

None came up bigger than Jeff Scott who broke off a 75 yard touchdown run with 1:07 left to play in the game putting the Rebels up for good in what was one of the best games I’ve seen period. And it’s only week one.

Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze starting his career at Ole Miss with a splash. Freeze channeled his inner Stonewall Jackson and lead the rebels to victory last night against Vandy. This game is truly a testament to the adage “it isn’t how you start, it’s how you finish”. Whatever he told his team at halftime worked. The Commodores started the 3rd quarter up by 17. The rebels methodically erased that lead. One drive was dominated by freshman WR Laquon Treadwell, the #1 ranked wideout in last years recruiting class. Another drive marked by QB Bo Wallace orchestrating the read option like a savvy veteran. Led by their ground attack, the Rebels scored 29 points in the second half on the way to victory.

What we can take away from this game is that Ole Miss’ recruiting class is as good as advertised and in the years to come they will be a force to be reckoned with. Their freshmen left their mark on this game. Hugh Freeze and company might not win a SEC title this season but they might surprise some people.

James Franklin offense lacks creativity and his defense lacks consistency. Jordan Matthews is the real deal but Vandy as a team. OVERrated. If they want to succeed somebody might want to step up so Carta-Samuels won’t stare him down every play.

I’m not really sure what this means but I do not like it. It seems the SEC, Big Ten and PAC-12 and have followed the NCAA and folded under the pressure of litigation costs. They have decided that they will no longer license their trademarks out to EA sports for use in the NCAA Football video game. They citing the mounting mounds of cash dedicated to litigation as the reason why.

This is very disturbing for me because as a child the NCAA Football game was the reason I became so immersed in college football. I learned “Rocky Top” because of NCAA Football. I remember playing the game and my father hearing me hum the tune and asked me did I know the words. The rest was history.

The video game may arguably be one of the NCAA’s biggest marketing tools. This decision may signal an end to the franchise. I don’t see how you can make the game without three of the nation’s power conferences logos. I think the schools can still choose to license their individual schools trademarks out. That fact provides an ounce of hope that the franchise can survive.

Former players are suing the NCAA for many things; using models that resembled them in the game without compensation just so happens to be one of those things. Apparently the litigation costs outweigh the marketing benefits the game provides. The NCAA is standing by its declaration that it has solid legal footing in using the players in the video game but we know a smoke screen when we see it. I’m assuming any future earnings from the video game would be considered in a settlement package if the case doesn’t go the NCAA’s way. Might just be temporary and simply damage control. What do you guys think about this mess?